How can we see your artists in your designs? “I was very inspired by the texture in his paintings. Sometimes you can see the hair from the brush in the strokes. It’s so bold and vibrant … The sculptor, on the other hand, was a bit of a challenge for me. I knew that I wanted my collection to be entirely menswear, so I wanted sculptures that would convey masculinity, definition and structure.”

CCAD Fashion Show

Kristin Rose’s muddy roots are planted in the country. She was one of 39 students in her high school class, many of whom rode four-wheelers to class on the last day of school. That small-town upbringing, she said, instilled in her a killer work ethic.

“I grew up with this idea that you don’t take a day off unless you have to,” she said.

It’s no surprise, then, that Rose took college classes before she was out of high school, studying pre-physical therapy at Edison State Community College. It wasn’t until her art teacher encouraged her to consider a creative education that Rose applied to CCAD.

“I’ve always been attracted to the medical and art worlds,” she said. “The human body is amazing, the complexity of it. There is so much to learn about it because it is so complex and so challenging.”

Her curiosity about the human body also inspired her senior collection. The three designs required her to delve into a new design realm—menswear.

“We hadn’t really learned much about constructing menswear, so I decided to take the leap,” Rose said.

Those cashmere double-faced wool jackets that took about 50 hours each to make are only part of her personal markers of success.

“I love things to be a mix of rustic and urban, luxury and casual,” Rose said. “I’m proud that I have had the opportunity to create a collection.”